Murali feels he has been pushed to the edge

Picture: GETTY IMAGESSri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan says the crowds in Australia have shown him no respect even though he has been rated the world's best bowler.

Australia might have seen the last of a world beater in Muttiah Muralitharan. Alex Brown reports.

The bowler of the century could not get a game. Too many good leg-spinners in his part of town, all better than him. So at the age of 15, having already proved a failure as a medium-pacer, the son of a Sri Lankan biscuit-maker tried finger-spin.

His action was always unusual. A birth deformity, one that left his bowling elbow permanently bent, ensured that. But at least he was getting picked. That's all Muttiah Muralitharan cared about.

But today, cricket is not so simple for Muralitharan. A few days after threatening never to return to Australian shores, citing constant abuse from local crowds as his source of discontent, the owner of 437 Test scalps - from just 78 matches - remained on the offensive.

The problem, Muralitharan emphasised, is not with Australia as a country. Nor is it with the non-cricket watching public. It's the folks in the stands - the kind that mocked him at the Gabba after he injured his knee on Wednesday - that have pushed him to the point of quitting all future tours here.

"They call me 'chucker' and 'cheat' and use all sorts of bad language," he said from Adelaide. "I think they have got worse since the last time I was here in 1998. I can't even field on the boundary any more. ");document.write("

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"My contract is up and when I negotiate my new one (with the Sri Lanka board), I am going to talk to them about not coming to Australia again. Why should I have to prove myself there if the people do not want to watch me?

"I think Australia is a very beautiful country. The people I meet in the streets are very nice. But this is the only country in the world where I get this kind of treatment from crowds. Brett Lee came to Sri Lanka and I don't think anyone called him 'chucker'."

If Muralitharan makes good on his threat, it will be to Australia's detriment. For his contributions to off-spin bowling have been nothing short of revolutionary - spinning the ball harder, using more variation and playing with greater aggression than most of the world's top leg-spinners.

Containment has become passe. And for the likes of Murali, Saqlain Mushtaq and Harbhajan Singh, an arm-ball an over will not cut it.

"I've been working on a flipper out of an off-spinner's grip for the last five or six months," he said. "It's never been done before. It's not ready for me to use at the World Cup, but I hope that with some more work in the nets I'll be able to bowl it sometime soon. "You look at Saqlain, Harbhajan and myself and we're all attacking.

"We don't get the benefit usually of having foot marks to bowl at. We just try to turn it hard. I have learnt a lot from watching Warney (Shane Warne) and learning the way he attacks a batsman."

Muralitharan, of Tamil descent, was schooled by Benedictine monks and raised in Kandy's upper-middle class suburbs. His father owned a biscuit factory and his three brothers now work in the corporate sector. All, he said, remain in close contact.

From this background has emerged a world-beater - one rated by Wisden to be the best of the century. The bowling equivalent of Bradman. Better than the Lillees, Larwoods, Warnes, Walshes, Bedis, Devs, Khans, McGraths and Grimmetts of any other era.

"Murali is the off-spin bowler everyone else is judged by," said India's Sachin Tendulkar, possibly the best batsman of this generation.

"Harbhajan (Singh) is very important for us in the World Cup. He is now one of the best off-spinners in the world, up there with Murali."

How does Muralitharan react to such dizzying plaudits?

"I did not ask Wisden to put my name there," he said. "I have not seen Bradman batting so I cannot know whether I bowl like he bats. I think it's very difficult to compare bowlers of different eras so I just play as hard as possible."

Muralitharan might have already bowled his last delivery in Australia. His quadriceps strain is responding slowly to treatment. And unless Sri Lanka reaches the finals of the triangular one-day series starting on Thursday, Muralitharan is unlikely to bowl again before the World Cup. You get the feeling he won't miss us.

The damage has been done. The actions of a few thousand louts have pushed an otherwise eloquent, thoughtful man to the edge. The rest of the world will watch his relentless pursuit of Courtney Walsh's Test wickets record. We won't.

"That's the way I feel, it's no threat," he said. "I'm looking forward to the World Cup because the fans in South Africa are much better. In my family we have always had respect. But the crowds in Australia have no respect or sportsmanship. They just want to see a one-sided contest. That is very bad."